The ramblings of a SAHM who loves her children more than anything. I love saving money, crafting and cooking, along with stating my opinions on a variety of topics. So, if any of these things interest you, then come along for the ride.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

So, today was just a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (how many of you remember that book?). I did get in a trip to Walgreens this evening after taking Wildman to the hospital for some lab work. We did pretty well. I paid $8.19 out of pocket for a total of $18.18 in product. For some reason, I had let me stock of deodorant for my husband run out (so of course I don't find out about this until the dreaded "Honey, do you know where any more deodorant is?"). This lead to me not being able to get it on sale. I was able to use a BOGO coupon and a $1 off coupon, so instead of paying $4.99 each, I paid $3.99 for both. I also paid only $2.50 for the paper towels, after a $2.50 coupon. The bandaids were on clearance for $0.99 and I had a $0.50 coupon. All in all, not a bad trip for a last minute one.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I am all about helping other SAHM/WAHM. I think they have some of the best items, but I also hope to get the same support once I start selling more things. Rock-a-Bye Booty is currently doing a giveaway for a blogger to receive some of her items for a review and giveaway of their own. She has some awesome items and she will be doing the drawing once she reaches 1400 likers. So, go like her page and let her know I sent you.

So, lately I have just felt utterly STRESSED OUT! Since I feel stressed, I then feel tired, which means I am not getting everything done that I need to which then leads to ... more stress! Why is it that, as moms or women, we seem to think we must do it all. I have multiple things that have been leading to my stress. Some of them I have brought upon myself (certain standards of cleanliness in the house, feeling like the only one who can do certain things with the kids) and others are the bottled up kind of things. Those things that you don't want to worry other people with, so you keep it inside. I keep telling myself I just need to let it out, alas, I just can't. The worst part of it is I find myself being more short with Wildman and Sweetpea, which isn't fair to them.

Today I finally started to take a stand. I started by not worrying about upsetting some people and I extended our outing this morning. I took Wildman and Sweetpea to the park to let Wildman play. Then, this afternoon, I put my foot down and started enforcing some rules in the house that weren't being enforced (my stepdaughter is here). I just need to keep making the baby steps. I don't want to worry my husband with some of these things because he is already super stressed at work. I am also not a huge fan of confrontation, so that makes things a more stressful when it comes to parenting my stepdaughter.

I am sure all of you have some stresses. What are some things that you do to relieve that stress? Is there anything you feel the need to vent about? Vent on moms, dads, anyone!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Well, I have to say that the definite draw back to where I live is that they don't tend to carry most of the advertised deals I hear about online. I ended up calling the three CVS stores around me to see if they carried the Hawaiian Tropic chapstick, that would have given me $10 RR to use towards the Coca-Cola, but alas, none of them did. I ended up spending $13 total in two transactions. I bought the Hershey's Bliss first for $5.99, then used the $5.99 RR I got towards the coke, which was 5/$13.

Target went a little better, but not by much. They had a deal where if you buy 4 Q-tips, you got a $5 gift card. I bought 4 at $1.82 each. The Nivea men's body wash was only $0.04 after stacking a $2/1 man cpn with a $1/1 Target cpn. The Kids Clif Bars were only $1.54 each after stacking (2) $1/1 man cpn with (2) $1/1 Target cpn. The Sally Hanson nail polish (Wildman picked out for my stepdaughters birthday) was $1 after using a $1/1 Target cpn. The Kraft dressing was $0.69 each after using a Target cpn of buy 2 get one free and another Target cpn of buy 2 get $1 off order. The shirt was FREE! It was on clearance for $2 and I had a mobile Target cpn for $2 off any top. The shin guards were something my son needed for soccer. They were still cheaper than any place else. If I had been thinking, I would have done this order has 2 separate transactions and used the $5 gift card towards the shin guards. In total, I spent $23.13 and saved 56.95%.

I don't know how many of you have been watching the Decorah Eagles online. It is this live streaming video of a male and female bald eagle. They laid eggs in February and, through the power of the internet, we have been able to watch the eggs hatch and the babies come into this world. All live. I was at a get together a t the library last week and I was discussing this site with another mother. She started going on about how she had been so worried about one of the babies last night because "the father" (we assumed it must have been the father since no mother would have acted this was ;-) was letting one of the little ones get close to the edge of the nest an d then wasn't letting the baby back underneath to keep warm. This mother and I joked that, not only do we have our own children to worry about, but now we are worrying about three eagle babies. Why? Because it is a mother's instinct.

It is the same thing when you are at the park where there are lots of other kids. I know I always seem to keep my eyes on my own kids, but I am also watching some of the other little ones. Just like the other day, I saw a kid, probably 7 or 8 years old hurt himself. He was trying to act strong, but you could tell he just wanted his mom to be there so he could cry. I don't know where his parents were. I was holding my little one and watching for my son and I went over to the boy to find out if he was OK and if he knew where his mom was. He wouldn't talk to me, which is fine, stranger danger and all, but I wanted to help him. As a mom, we feel the need to help any child we can. It is an instinct we can't overcome.

You may be asking, "Why is she writing about this?" Because, as much as mothering is instinctual, I feel that, as mothers, we sometimes need a little empowering. I wrote back in March about The Good, The Bad, The Facebook in which I discussed how we can sometimes get sucked into the information on Facebook. What I want to emphasize here is that we need to follow our instincts.

Remember in school when you would take a test and teachers always told you to go with your first answer, your instinct, because it was probably right? I feel the same way about being a mother. I look back at the decisions I have made with my children and I realize that I have made those decisions based off of instinct. I didn't research to the end of the internet and back about breastfeeding my children, I just did it. Why else do I have breasts? It seemed self explanatory to me. Did I have some issues? Yes. I had a breast reduction 2 years before I had my son which caused my supply to be low. Since I was working part time and wasn't able to pump enough I did supplement. Did I feel guilty about it? A little, but I was doing what was best for my son. I wanted him to thrive, so if giving him some formula because I couldn't give him enough breast milk was what I had to do, so be it.

Think back to how you thought you would raise your children before you had kids. Is how you thought you would raise them different than how you are raising them? Why? Are any of the differences due to what instinct told you to do or are the differences due to outside pressure? Living things have survived as long as they have due to relying on their instinct. Fight or flight, eat or be eaten, these are the instinctual decisions that have been made through time. So why is it that we now question ourselves so much? Information overload is trying to drown out the voice inside us that has lead us to be who we are. My personal belief is that I have no regrets on how I have raised my children as long as I have followed my instincts. Now, if I based my decisions on just information that I have researched, then I feel I could have some regrets. Why? Who is to say that the information I am finding is the best there is? You could spend hours, days, even weeks searching and searching for the perfect information to guide you in your mothering journey. But what would happen if you shut off the computer and just thought about what feels right to you?

So, listen to yourself. Yes, the internet is a wonderful tool that can help us connect to other mothers that parent similar to how we do. It can also help us figure out if the symptoms our child has are something we should see the doctor about or wait. Don't rely on it to be the main source of your information. Follow your instincts. They have gotten you this far and they won't steer you wrong!

Your mind knows only some things... Your inner voice, your instinct, knows everything... If you listen to what you know instinctively, it will always lead you down the right path....~Henry Winkler~

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Back in March I contacted Bug on a Rug with a question. I wanted to find out if she had any type of pull up for a 3.5 year old boy to wear to bed. Wildman is completely potty trained during the day and has been for almost 2 years. He still is not night-time potty trained. Since Sweet Pea only uses cloth diapers, I decided I wanted to try and switch Wildman over to cloth. We really like the pull ups because he can get them down and up on his own if he gets up and needs to potty. Everything I was finding online was either just for daytime potty training (not meant to be very absorbent) or was a regular diaper (he wouldn't be able to pull up and down). Luckily, Bug on a Rug came to my rescue!

At the time, she was trying a design for an AI2 and Wildman would be a test subject. I bought two to try and she sent them out. The first set were too small, so she sent me two more (with Wildman's measurements this time) and sent me an envelope to send the other ones back (how cool is that!). This time they fit. We decided that this type of diaper would need measurements instead of just doing S, M, L. I decided to order some more, but wanted the rise to be a little higher in the front and the back this time, like regular underwear (I know, I sound really demanding :-). It was after placing this order that Bug on a Rug contacted me regarding new trainers that she had designed. We went ahead and had her send me three of the new trainers to try and they are awesome!

This is how Bug on a Rug describes them on her site:

"This pant has a polyester stretch knit to prevent leakage and front snaps for easy access for accidents. It has a layer of PUL which makes it waterproof, soft cotton inner layer and a 3 layer microfiber twill pad. Using this trainer without a soaker allows your toddler to feel wetness to encourage potty training."

The first thing that my son loved about the trainers was the color. He loves Spiderman and loved that the red and the blue were almost identical to Spiderman's colors. Next thing that we loved was the style itself. They looked more like underwear and not like a diaper. They have the front side snaps, if necessary, otherwise they can be pulled up and down like underwear. The next great thing is that there are snaps in the inside, both front and back, in order to attach a soaker. This allows someone to use this trainer without the soaker for daytime training and then add the soaker at night for the extra protection.

We have been using these new trainers for a month now and we love them. It has been a little trial and error since the amount Wildman drinks greatly affects the number of soakers you may need at night. Most nights, he is fine with just the one soaker. Some nights I do add some homemade soakers, just to be on the safe side. The trainers have done wonderfully! I am actually getting ready to order some more. You can order from Bug on a Rug through her store on Facebook, or through her Etsy store. The trainers are $18.95, the snap-in soaker is an additional $2. This weekend, in honor of her son's birthday, she also has free shipping on everything excluding hooded towels.

I will say, in closing, even if you aren't in need of a trainer right now, you need to check Bug on a Rug out. She has wonderful AIO diapers (Sweet Pea has two), swim diapers (Sweet Pea has one of these also) and some of the coolest animal towels and superhero capes (I will probably be ordering one of these for Wildman's birthday). She has great turn around time and is always open to customizing any order.

Wildman felt I needed to take pictures of the trainer from all sides! All photos are with the insert in the trainer.

Giveaway

There are two great ways to have a Bug on a Rug creation of your own. The first is you can go to her Etsy store, Facebook page or Hyena cart and purchase one of the many items she has available. The second is by entering to win AIO diaper (a $15.99 value) on this page, sponsored by Bug on a Rug. Here is a description of the AIO diapers:

"My AIO diapers are made with a super soft outer PUL layer, an incredibly soft Alova suede inner layer that wicks moisture away from your baby's bottom, and a super absorbent microfleece terry pad. Two layers of fabric are placed between the snaps to keep them secure, and the double braided elastic is zig zag stitched to keep it tight and functional.

One size diaper fits approximately 10-35 lbs.

New diaper closure system allows the rise to be adjustable for an even better fit on your LO! New measurements from smallest fit to largest are: Rise: 14-19", Waist: 12-21", Thigh: 7-13"."

Giveaway Rules

Each entry must include a valid e-mail address. Any entry without a valid e-mail address will be deleted. Random.org will be used to pick the winner.

Mandatory Entry

In order to enter you must like (follow) Bug on a Rug on FB (already like her? Then make sure to say in your comment that you already like her)